Poll: Only 20% of Tuesday's voters supported an Obama executive amnesty

Updated:Thu, Nov 6th 2014 @ 4:25 pm EST by Roy Beck

A scientific national poll of those who voted in Tuesday's congressional elections found that only 20% support "President Obama changing immigration policy on his own."
There surely was no other Obama policy or promise that was more unpopular among the voters than the idea that, when Congress doesn't change immigration law like he wants, Pres. Obama claims the right to do what he wants on his own. And he repeated his insistence on doing that in his post-election press conference yesterday!
About the survey results from "the polling company inc./Woman Trend," its president Kellyanne Conway said in a media release this afternoon:
The President may be the last person in town to realize how resistant Americans are to him playing the Lone Ranger on amnesty. In fact, based on his press conference yesterday he has either suspended disbelief or has no awareness of how the immigration issue and his threats to act alone contributed to his party suffering massive losses on Tuesday.
The results from a post-election survey of actual voters confirm this. Three-quarters of those who voted this year (74%) say President Obama should work with Congress rather than around Congress on immigration and separately, 80% want new jobs created by the economy to go to American workers and legal immigrants already in the country."
THE POLL QUESTION
President Obama recently said that he plans to go around Congress and take executive action on immigration policy. Which do you support more: (ROTATED) President Obama changing immigration policy on his own, or President Obama working with Congress to change immigration policy?
74% PRESIDENT OBAMA WORKING WITH CONGRESS TO CHANGE IMMIGRATION POLICY
20% PRESIDENT OBAMA CHANGING IMMIGRATION POLICY ON HIS OWN

5% DO NOT KNOW/CANNOT JUDGE (VOL.)
1% REFUSED (VOL.)
EVEN DEMOCRATS & HISPANICS SAY: 'DON'T GO IT ALONE'
It is easy to see how the immigration policy profile of Pres. Obama really dragged down results for Democratic candidates in Tuesday's election.
Majorities of virtually all types of voters answered that they preferred the President work with Congress rather than taking immigration action on his own:

  • 75% -- men
  • 74% -- women
  • 79% -- whites
  • 59% -- blacks
  • 54% -- Hispanics
  • 51% -- Democrats
  • 80% -- Independents
  • 92% -- Republicans

WHY WOULD THE PRESIDENT STILL MOVE FORWARD WITH THIS IDEA?
I've been taking calls from reporters all day who are asking me what in the world I think the President is going to do and why would he proceed with his unilateral action in the face of not only these polling results on the voters but also such strong opposition from so many entities that have up to this point worked wholeheartedly with him to push a comprehensive amnesty and doubling of immigrant workers.
Pro-amnesty forces that nonetheless are urging Obama to back off all promises to do an executive amnesty include the cheap-labor business lobbies, the Republican members of the Senate Gang of Eight, editorial boards of the elite newspapers, and many pro-amnesty politicians of his own Party.
In addition, national Republican leaders who either have supported some kind of amnesty in the past or been squishy on the issue have almost universally drawn lines in the sand, saying Obama cannot be allowed to take away this level of power from Congress.
If congressional Republican leaders stand up and fight back on an executive amnesty, we could find our nation plunged into a constitutional crisis that might have to be settled by the Supreme Court.
If the President risks all of that by moving forward with his executive amnesty, he will be signaling that the amnesty is more important to him than all other issues combined, because his action will likely make it virtually impossible to work well with Congress on any other issues next year. And he would be doing that for the sake of 20% of the voters and for the self-appointed leaders of street-theatre, special-interest organizations?
PROTECTING AMERICAN WORKERS COLORS VOTER OPINIONS
Kellyanne Conway said today:
Voters overwhelmingly prefer an immigration system that protects American workers. Therefore members of Congress should feel confident that voters will support actions using the power of the purse to protect American workers from Obama's executive amnesty threat."

She noted that the poll found that the "idea that new jobs should go to Americans and legal immigrants already here had overwhelming approval (80%) among voters in Tuesday's elections."
That preference was found in all regions:
74% -- Northeast
80% -- Midwest
85% -- South
80% -- West
Conway said there was no gender gap: "This is one policy on which both men and women largely agree."
THE POLL QUESTION
As the economy creates new jobs, should they go (ROTATED) to U.S.-born workers and legal immigrants already in the country, OR to additional immigrants who would come to the United States?
80% U.S.-BORN WORKERS AND LEGAL IMMIGRANTS ALREADY IN THE COUNTRY
6% ADDITIONAL IMMIGRANTS WHO WOULD COME TO THE UNITED STATES

13% DO NOT KNOW/CANNOT JUDGE (VOL.)
1% REFUSED (VOL.)
You can find the full memo along with the methodology from the polling company at this link: http://pollingcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-Post-Election-.... Margin of sampling error was 3.5%.
-- ROY BECK is Founder & President of NumbersUSA

NumbersUSA's blogs are copyrighted and may be republished or reposted only if they are copied in their entirety, including this paragraph, and provide proper credit to NumbersUSA. NumbersUSA bears no responsibility for where our blogs may be republished or reposted.

45 Comments


Login to Post Comments


https://www.numbersusa.com/blog/poll...cutive-amnesty